For the past several weeks, police have sought to get to the crusty bottom of an unusual kidnapping—one that involves a giant, gold-plated cookie and ransom notes from a shaggy blue figure who has mockingly claimed responsibility for the abduction.

The nearly 50-pound Leibniz Keks, or Leibniz Cookie, hung over the entrance to the Bahlsen GmbH company offices for a century in this small German city, held aloft by a pair of strapping nude male bronzes.

On Jan. 21, a company employee first noticed the biscuit was missing. Police later reported that witnesses saw two men dressed in dark overalls taking the metal confection in broad daylight. Witnesses said that one of them climbed a ladder to dislodge the cookie while the other stayed below to capture the heavy prize.

Bahlsen, a family-owned company established in 1889, is one of the biggest baked goods producers in Germany and a major cookie exporter. Its trademark product—a rectangular butter cookie embossed with the Leibniz name—is as recognizable to German kinder as the Oreo is to Americans.